LA County courts reorganization affects Pomona cases

POMONA - In a little less than two weeks, lawyers and the public who file certain types of suits in Superior Court will have to travel outside of their communities to handle court proceedings.

The Los Angeles County Superior Court announced Monday that starting March 18 all personal injury cases in the general jurisdiction must be filed in the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles. Some of these cases were traditionally filed in Pomona and will be affected by the reorganization.

Pomona Courthouse North is one of the 10 courthouses in the county set to be closed this year. They are part of an effort to save between $55 million and $85 million in the 2013-14 fiscal year.

"Up to the 18th, it's business as usual. After the 18th, there will be changes at the filing window," said Mary Hearn, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Residents of Pomona, Diamond Bar, Claremont, La Verne and San Dimas, who previously filed personal injury cases in Pomona if they involved the eastern end of the district, will be affected.

Limited civil action cases will be filed in downtown Los Angeles.

Also, certain civil actions where sums up to $25,000 are sought to be collected will go to Chatsworth or Norwalk courthouses depending the filing party's ZIP code.

Residents of the Inland Valley within Los Angeles County will have to file those cases in Norwalk, according to a Los Angeles County Superior Court statement.

Small claims cases will be filed in six regional hubs. Cases that previously would have been filed in Pomona will now be filed in the Alhambra Courthouse.

Limited unlawful detainer cases - involving landlord-tenant matters - that would have been handled in Pomona will go to the Pasadena Courthouse.

Currently, most of these cases are handled at Pomona Courthouse North on Mission Boulevard, but a few are filed at Pomona Courthouse South at 400 Civic Center Plaza, Hearn said.

Existing cases will continue to be heard at the courthouses where they were filed and some will be wrapped up at those facilities, but "it has yet to be determined how many of the existing cases will be transferred" to other locations, she said.

Additional information on where some of the existing cases will be heard is expected to become available within the coming weeks, Hearn said.

The 10 affected courthouses "won't have judicial officers and won't have full service," Hearn said.

Pomona Courthouse North for now will continue to handle traffic court and misdemeanor criminal cases but changes are also expected to affect those services. Information on the changes is expected to become available in the coming weeks, she said.

The courthouse has heard a combination of misdemeanors, small claims, landlord verse tenants disputes as weel as traffic penalties.

In some locations, courthouses will not close completely since some are home to offices and services unrelated to the courts. Decisions involving those uses have yet to be determined, she said.

Pomona attorney Cedric Elias said criminal cases won't be affected as a result of the changes, but lawyers and members of the public dealing with matters such as landlord-tenant cases will.

"It's going to put a big strain on them just trying to get there," he said, referring to the different courthouses.